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November 2012 ACT Bar Bulletin

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November 2012 ACT Bar Bulletin In this edition From the President 2 The Editor 3 The Chief Magistrate 4 Intemperate Remarks, Magistrate Mossop 5 Pleading and Case Mangement 8 Your New Bar Council 2012/13 11 From the DPP 12 2012 Bench and Bar Dinner Photos 13 Members Lunch with Dan Mori 15 Case Review 16 From the Law Society’s President 21 Bar Bulletin November 2012 The Australian Capital Territory Bar Association FROM THE PRESIDENT GreGory Stretton SC ACT Emergency Legal Aid Plan On 13 September, I attended coronial inquiry, etc, yet, some were unable to access the launch of the ACT Emergency Legal Aid such assistance which meant additional trauma and Help Plan. !e Plan has been developed by the uncertainty in their moment of need. ACT Legal Assistance Forum (and comprising representatives of legal assistance providers in the !e Plan provides for volunteer legal practitioners ACT including the ACT Law Society) to provide to be available to provide legal advice in the essential legal assistance in the a"ermath of a a"ermath of a disaster. !e establishment of the signi#cant emergency event (disaster). ACT Emergency Legal Help is to be supported and commended. !e ACT Law Society will maintain a Following the ACT Bush#res in 2001, Canberra list of names and contact details of volunteers who residents needed urgent advice in relation to may be able to provide emergency legal services property insurance, loss of legal documents, following a disaster. Reserved Judgments !e delays in delivering reserved judgments in the reserved decisions, it is an area where signi#cant ACT Courts continues to be a primary ongoing improvement is necessary in the interest of justice. concern of members. While the delays relate to !e delays were raised by me at my #rst meeting some judicial o$cers only, the e%ect of the delay with the Judges as President and I will continue to on litigants and their legal representatives should monitor and apply such pressure as I can to improve not be underestimated. Whilst the latest statistics the situation. indicate a decrease in the time taken to deliver Docket System in the Supreme Court On 2 October, together with Ms Noor Blumer and time, it is hoped to have documentation ready Mr Richard Faulks met with Penfold J to discuss the in guiding practitioners on the questions they new Docket System. !ere have been acknowledged should be prepared to answer at appearances and teething problems with the system which hopefully appropriate orders and directions. Any input from will be recti#ed sooner rather than later. A follow members on the operation of the system would be up meeting is scheduled for 11 December by which welcome. Docks in the ACT Magistrates Court On 16 October, Ken Archer of Council and the design of docks in the Court. !e Chief Magistrate CEO attended a meeting with the Chief Magistrate, has taken all of the issues raised at the meeting Professor David Tate of the University of Western and is currently considering all of the options Sydney and other stakeholders. A number of ideas available. and options were discussed around the concept and Website One of my priorities as President will be to update our website. I intend seeking support, both in principle and #scal at the next Bar Council meeting. ~ 2 ~ Bar Bulletin November 2012 The Australian Capital Territory Bar Association FROM THE EDITOR !ere are many important issues for all of us in the immediate future in the ACT. !e Attorney Simon Corbell is providing that if re-elected, he will introduce new legislation on proceeds of crime and privacy. he proceeds of crime leg- Would we all bene#t with and integrity. With no right Tisltion currently existing these issues being spelt out in to discovery, the timetable in Australia is a worry for litigation? - I think so. for litigation is dramatically lawyers. Not because there reduced as is the cost. is any sympathy for de#ning !e Chief Judge in Equity criminals for de#ning crim- of the Supreme Court of !ese matters are food for inals of the proceeds of their NSW, !e Hon Justice thought for the Australian crimes. Patricia Bergin, addressed Capital Territory. the profession in the Federal !e problem is the draconian Court on 9 October 2012. legislation which reserves the onus of proof and can lead to Her Honour gave a an unjust result. A further challenging and provocative informed comment will address. She stated she was undoubtedly be made when against the Docket System the Bill is produced. for court administration and favoured a central authority !e privacy matter will be, only controlling the lists. I am sure a popular Bill. Currently, there are two !e main reason put forward !e ACT Bar Association celebrated instances that was because individual 11th Floor, AMP Building,1 Hobart bring privacy into sharp judges approach their task Place, Canberra City, ACT, 2601, DX 5654 focus. !e #rst, is the di%erently with di%erent time Duchess of Cambridge having tables and degrees of success p + 61 2 6257 1437 | f + 61 2 6257 6090 topless/nude phtos published. in the administration of that !e other is the pursuit by timetable. !e Chief Judge actbar.com.au the so called orthodox media in Equity was also against Opinions are not the o"cial opinions of the four girls involved in judges becoming involved in of the ACT Bar Association unless a custody dispute. We have expressly stated. !e Association mediation which occurs in accepts no responsibility for the seen the ‘forced’ removal from some Australian jurisdictions. accuracy of any information contained Australia and the ‘forced’ in the Bar Bullein and readers should rely upon their own enquiries in reuni#cation with their Lastly, Her Honour favoured making decisions regarding their own interests. Italian father. abandoning the right to ‘Discovery’ saying that the Minds would undoubtedly profession should be relied di%er about the privacy issues upon to act with honesty in relation to both matters. The Australian Capital Territory Bar Association Bar Bulletin November 2012 ~ 3 ~ FROM THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE Lorraine W aLker and government along with fearless comment as required by the former. It is also incumbent on the judiciary to be both responsive to and proactive in relation to proposed legal reform. Whilst this must et again at the eleventh hour I am putting be politically impartial, and appropriately Y #nger to keyboard to report the latest communicated, honest and open relations from the ACT Magistrates Court to readers of between all aspects of the ACT legal the ACT Bar Bulletin. community will serve to provide a better legal system for the protection of Canberra’s !e last thing I heard on the radio as I arrived citizenry. to work this morning was the notion that our single Greens elected representative, Mr Shane I look forward to working with the new Rattenbury, should be considered for the role government, and the Bar Association and Law of Attorney-General. Whether that transpires, Society, to that end. or whether Mr Simon Corbell resumes the role, or whether it falls to another, it is likely that On a more prosaic level, I can advise of a our next Attorney-General will not be a legally number of matters. quali#ed person. !is fact brings both bene#ts and challenges. A further consultative meeting recently took I sat at a Bar conference a number of years ago place in relation to proposed dock and court with Justice Sully made the acute observation architecture arrangements in the Magistrates that “many lawyers sharpen their minds by Court. It was a fruitful discussion and a #nal narrowing them”. It is a phrase which has decision is expected before the end of the year. remained with me. !e appointment of a A research project is soon to get underway non-lawyer as Attorney-General means that around the functioning of the Forensic Medical certain knowledge, assumed amongst legal Centre at Phillip, which will aim to identify practitioners, may not be as ingrained in the best practice in relation to pathology services thinking of our #rst law o$cer. !is may provided at the Centre. In the same vein, I am require communication and education. It also in discussion with Donatelife with a view to means that certain assumptions ingrained in streamlining processes for organ donation in the thinking of lawyers, may be challenged. coronial matters. !is may require a preparedness in lawyers to re&ect upon and reassess their own Finally, Magistrate Mossop has agreed to assumptions. conduct a call-over of a number of civil matters referred to the Magistrates Court by Acting What is clear is that the role played by the Justice Sidis last week. !is will take place on Bar Association (along with the Law Society) 14 November. Parties can expect a thorough remains essential in the airing and testing and proactive approach by His Honour. He of the approach of the government of the has agreed to wear his Aon t-shirt beneath his day to legal issues. !e utility of this was gown by way of inspiration. demonstrated during the life of the last government with good relations between Bar ~ 4 ~ Bar Bulletin November 2012 The Australian Capital Territory Bar Association Intemperate remarks Magistrate DaviD Mossop n 5 October 2012 the everything at the case and to regulation in the public OHigh Court published the ran it with the greatest interest and that the section reasons for its decision in the degree of legal sophistication has no operation where tobacco litigation, JT Interna- and resources that money the acquisition of property tional SA v Commonwealth of could buy.
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